 Matt
Dougherty grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and worked on the sports
staff of his college newspaper and in sports information before
graduating from St. Bonaventure. He spent the 2003-04 school year
working in the Dartmouth Sports Information Office before moving on to
The SportsNetwork, where he is editor of the organization's extensive
Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) coverage. In a recent
phone conversation Dougherty talked about the FCS, the FBS (Football
Bowl Subdivision), the Ivy League and about Dartmouth. Here's an edited
version of our rambling conversation:
Matt Dougherty on whether
the Ivy League presidents' decision not to allow teams to go to the
playoffs has an impact on Top-20 voting:
"It has a big impact. There's a faction that thinks it's wasting a vote
to vote for teams that don't go to the playoffs. Then there's a
faction, especially out West and in the Midwest, that doesn't think the
level of play is very good. Without being in the playoffs the Ivies
never get a chance to prove how good they are. Even the Patriot League,
when Colgate made that run a few years ago, earned a little more
respect with the pollsters, although they are still fighting that
perception nationally that it is an inferior product."
On whether the Ivies
really are an inferior product:
"I don't think so. Not at the top, at least. I think a team like
Harvard in '04 and maybe Penn the year before, if they had gotten the
good draws that some others have, could have made a run. The Ivies have
done well, at least at the top, against the Patriot teams that went on.
A team like Lehigh lost by just one point to James Madison, the
champion in 2004. Colgate made its run in 2003. Lafayette has had some
good games the last few years and the Ivies competed with all those
teams. I don't know that an Ivy team would go to the national
championship but I do think if you had a dominant Ivy League team they
could compete for the top level."
On the importance of Ivies
(and Dartmouth) changing their non-conference schedules:
"I don't know if what happened last year is a result of it, but look at
Princeton, which played at San Diego and now is playing Hampton out of
the MEAC. In the past couple of years you have seen a real rise in
their program. Certainly when Ivy League schools that recruit so much
across the country play a team in California it brings exposure and
keeps the fan base interested. At a school like Dartmouth with the rise
of UNH and Colgate and Penn usually being strong, it's almost like you
have to pull a big upset or you are looking at 0-3 or 0-4 every year.
That's a hard way to start a season, so changing the schedule would
help there in several ways."
On the draft prospects of
Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie:
"I wouldn't be shocked if he was the first FCS player chosen from
everything I've seen and heard. He could even be a Day One guy. He
appears to be almost a lock to be drafted. I haven't heard of anybody
else in the Ivy League being talked about as being drafted. If you
follow it, one to two draftees a year is about what the Ivies usually
put out. That's pretty consistent with the rest of FCS conferences."
On the FCS and the NFL
draft:
"The general misconception is that players in the FCS are playing at a
lower level so they won't be drafted. Compared to the higher
level programs it is a lower level. But they can play. You look at
people who project
the draft saying 4-5 players will be taken when in reality there are
15-20 taken every year. There are so many success stories. There are
NFL quality players at this level and quite a few of them.The
difference is depth, particularly on the lines. The one place that FCS
doesn't get drafted much is defensive line. They do somewhat on the
offensive line. Even when D-ends get drafted they are usually are the
type of guys that are converted to outside linebacker because they
aren't big enough."
On the new FCS-FBS
nomenclature:
"The people regularly who write I-AA have done a pretty good job of
getting FCS out there. But the major newspapers and major outlets that
only cover 'major college football' still just write Division I or I-A,
or just say college football without distinguishing. I don't think the
major press has caught on and until it does I don't really see everyone
else catching on."
On how to make using FCS
and FBS second nature:
"Ugh. I actually asked that of the NCAA when I interviewed them about a
year ago about all this. I asked, 'What can you do to make people do
this?' They said they can't impose any penalties. They said the schools
really have to be the ones to make it happen. Not so much the now-FCS
schools, but the major ones. They have to be the ones to start it and
then maybe the media will catch on."
On the Football Bowl
Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision titles:
"I think the shorter the better. Maybe if they just said the
Championship Level and the Bowl Level it would catch on more. Then you
could refer to everything as Division I. I think it's going to be
confusing for a long time."
On whether the country
appreciates how good FCS football is:
"No. Not even close. Anytime there is a somewhat major upset, like
Montana State beating Colorado last year, there's a shock. ESPN covered
it like it was some Division III team winning the game. I guess it's
good in the sense that it's getting coverage. But people really
shouldn't be shocked at what happened because there were seven FCS
teams that won against FBS teams last year. You look at those top-level
teams, they are no different than the teams in the middle of the MAC or
the Sun Belt, or might even better than some of those. They could
probably even compete with the bottom of the major conferences. Look at
New Hampshire going and winning easily at Northwestern. Obviously FCS
teams are never going to get the chance to play those games at home or
they'd win more."
On how he keeps up on all
that is happening across the country:
"For the major games I'll spend a lot of time with their game notes,
trying to get little tidbits from them. The other ones I look at
trends. I'm in here all day Sunday looking at what happened around the
country the day before. I read quite a lot of press releases trying to
get a general feel. It's very hard to be completely up-to-date on who's
injured and if there's going to be a quarterback change but I really do
rely on SID's to give me tidbits and to help me out with game notes.
From there I try to piece it all together."
On what it's like trying
to follow 120 or so FCS teams:
"It gets a little tiring around November. Not so much writing columns
and covering the playoffs, which is obviously a lot of work, but that's
when I
start to add on our award show in December. There's a lot of planning
with that, getting people flights and all that. For a month or month
and a half it's hard. But I enjoy going out and seeing all the places.
I've been to just about every major venue there is."
On his favorite venues:
"Montana is one. I almost felt like a rock star there. FCS football is
such a big deal there. They recognized me when I pulled my car in. That
was a shock. That's the type of place I go on two different pregame
radio shows. It's so big-time. Notre Dame is probably the biggest venue
I've been to and Montana is more comparable to a big-time place like
that then they are to the other I-AA schools. I like Georgia Southern
for tailgating. They were out tailgating by 9 for a noon game and were
still out there at 6 or 7. Same with McNeese State where it's a big
party. At Appalachian State the past couple of years the atmosphere
inside the stadium has really taken off because they are starting to
draw 25,000 people. They've got a huge fan base."
On the appeal of FCS
football in the Ivies and the Northeast:
"I've been to Harvard and Princeton and both were half full, if that.
It's not just the Ivies. It's interesting. I've found that the way
college football is looked at outside of the Northeast is so different.
I've been in the Northeast all my life and even in places like
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where they've been really good lately,
the crowd wasn't in it the way they are elsewhere. There wasn't as much
tailgating. It was more of an event in the south and in places like
Montana."
On what he expects in the
Ivies next fall:
"I've kind of got my top five but that's about all I've worked up so
far. I'll know more after all the spring games are done and I've got
all the prospectuses. That gives me a better idea of
who's back, who's gone and who's going to play key roles. The biggest
thing I've seen the last couple of years in the Ivies, and it seems as
if it might continue, is that it's not just Harvard and Penn anymore.
There was Brown and then Princeton and Yale. More teams look like they
are capable of making a run."
On his FCS top five to
start 2007:
"You've got to have Appalachian State No. 1. They lose a little bit but
they still have their quarterback and running back, who are top
players. And a lot of the defense is back. Montana would be right after
them. I also like Northern Iowa, New Hampshire and North Dakota State.
I think New Hampshire actually got better. I know they lost David Ball
but I think they are better in a lot of areas than they have been in
the past, like offensive line and defensively. My biggest question with
them is losing the coordinator, but Sean McDonnell is pretty
offensive-minded."
On what game he will open
the 2007 season watching in person:
"Portland State - McNeese for Jerry Glanville's debut down at McNeese,
which is a great place to see a game."
On the changes at
Dartmouth's Memorial Field, cutting capacity to 15,000:
"They've done the right thing. They didn't need all those stands. It
was a smart move."
On Dartmouth coach Buddy
Teevens' upcoming cross-country bike ride:
"You've got to like what he's doing for the cause (breast cancer
awareness) and to gain attention to it. Also, when you are in an area
like Dartmouth anything that puts your name in the press and gets you
attention -- which I would imagine he would on a national level to some
extent -- is a good thing."
Matt Dougherty's Extra
Point can be found here.
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